Hospital Blues
by VigilantBallofPassion
Summary: Book store owner Noemi Markwardt heard her close friend Jean Havoc was in the hospital and decides to cheer him up with a gift. Unfortunately, the hospital has a strict no outside food policy. Will she be able to give Jean her gift or will she be caught? Either way, this visit will have unintended consequences to their relationship.


Hospital Blues  
Authors note: This was actually meant to be apart of a larger fanfiction I was originally writing with a two other people under the pen name Milexal, but that fell apart after a spat. (As most of my relationships do at this point lol) Regardless, I hope you enjoy this piece.

The hospital was small and out of the way. Which was why Lieutenant Hawkeye chose it, it would be less dangerous for Roy Mustang and Jean Havoc that way. Presumably anyway. In truth, Noemi F. Markwardt was not privy to that sort of information- and sure the main hospital would have been closer to her home and shop, but she couldn't care less as long as the Second Lieutenant was safe- or well as safe as he could be.  
Noemi nodded politely to Mrs. Davidson, an elderly woman sitting in the lobby sewing. Her husband caught pneumonia, and she was visiting him. Noemi ran into her earlier and the woman nearly chatted her ear off. The young woman mused, with a half grin. As a pink uniform-clad nurse approached her, Noemi's tawny hand tightened on her bag. _'Please don't ask to see what's inside. Please.'_ The book thief Alchemist let out a breath she did not realize she was holding when the nurse stopped in front of the elderly woman.  
Not wanting to test her luck, Noemi scurried away quickly until she reached room fifty five. It was six pm, and supper was being served. The book clerk reasoned that the Flame Alchemist was in the cafeteria as the bed next to Jean's stood empty. The Second Lieutenant stared disinterestedly at the plate in front of him. Every so often the plastic spork would splash gravy on one end of the plate to another. Noemi watched him for a few moments before announcing her presence. "Meatloaf and mashed potatoes are your favorite, Jean,"

She quickly made her way over to the cushioned window seat next to the occupied hospital bed. For the week or so that Noemi had been visiting, the window seat had quickly become her favorite perch. Pulling a face, Jean made a big show of stabbing the brown meat with his spork and stuffing it into his mouth.  
"You don't understand how awful this stuff is," Jean whined. "I have had better gruel in the Mess Hall on base."  
Noemi wrinkled her nose at the limp green, sprouts that passed for green beans. "That's only because they don't salt anything." The staff claim that salt is bad for the body, but Noemi secretly suspects that they are just sadists- torturing their patients while they heal them.  
While she spoke her hand moved quickly in her bag. "Being the benevolent goddess I am," Noemi gestured grandly. A holy chorus sang out behind her as she spoke. "I have come to ease the suffering of you, poor mortal."  
Jean watched on, unimpressed by her antics. The book thief alchemist's cheeks puffed up into a pout and she glared at him for a few moments, willing him to be more thrilled. Before relenting and pressing stop on the boombox she transmuted to play a holy choir sound.  
'I suppose if I was him. I would be grumpy too.'  
Getting to the point of this visit, Noemi pulled a clear jar out of her bag. It was filled up with a reddish-brown, grainy substance. "This is a recipe my grandpa taught me. From his home country. It's called Baharat. It's a seven seasoning mix, with cumin, paprika, and a few others."  
Jean gingerly accepted the spice mix and scooped a little bit over his food. "Yeah, don't use too much. Less is more with this stuff. But, the best part is, even us regular people who don't enjoy burning our mouths on spicy things can enjoy it." Noemi babbled nervously. She had never shared any of the Ishvalan recipes that she knew, as few as they may be, with him before.

Noemi picked up a magazine she pulled from the nightstand, something bland about cars. If the book clerk knew Jean as well as she thinks she does, she imagined that he was disappointed there were no topless girls in it. 'He probably doesn't bother with those magazines now that he has a girlfriend.' Something her throat swelled up and Noemi coughed into her hand. Jean, who was studying the ingredients list- that she wrote down earlier, in case someone he shared it with had a food allergy, did not seem to notice her brief fit.  
The Second Lieutenant poured a bit into his spork and mixed it in with his mashed potatoes. As he took a bite his facial expression did not change. He closed his eyes and took another and another. It felt like, to Naomi, an eternity before he turned to her. "It's savory but not salty… not quite spicy…" Jean trailed off.  
Noemi's crimson eyes darkened. A fake smile flashed across her face, she opened her mouth to tell him, "It's alright. You don't need to finish it. I can request you get another plate."  
Jean spoke before the book thief alchemist could.

"This is delicious," Jean mumbled after swallowing a large chunk of meatloaf. A deep cherry red blush flashed across his face as he noticed how his friend's face lit up. 'Oh jeez.' Jean mused. 'I never noticed how much her eyes look like a sweet pomegranate,' He quickly looked away and pretended to have a great interest in his green beans. 'Noemi even brought me a jar of her family's secret spices to cheer me up.'  
The irony of the situation hit the second lieutenant like a ton of bricks. Previously, he thought his luck had finally turned around as a beautiful woman who had finally shown interest in him. Per contra, his luck had only gotten sourer by the moment as the woman turned out to be a Homunculi and is the reason he could not feel his damned legs.

In his mind's eye, he saw Noemi hiking along with him when he decided to go for a bit of exercise at one of the local parks. He saw her chiding him when he had not bothered to eat breakfast, the way she forced a scone into his hands. The book thief alchemist reading novels on the couch beside him, as he did his paperwork. Her bringing his office snacks, because she saw it in a recipe book and decided to try it out. The way her eyes brighten as she finds some anomaly that she wants to figure out… This whole time there had been a wonderful girl by his side, and he never even noticed. Heck half the time he had forgotten she was a girl, to begin with…  
Noemi stood, arching her back, and lifting her hands in the air. She padded over to the end table beside Jean's hospitable bed. "Remember to hide that. They have a super strict no outside rule here." she handed him the big black book from her bag. "Inside the cover is hollow, so you can keep it in there," Noemi flipped it open and showed him how to open and close the hidden nook.  
Jean placed the container in its new home and turned to thank her, only to get a full view of his friend's generous cleavage in his face. The water pitcher was on the other side of his bed. Noemi was filling up his cup.  
Beep. Beep. Beeep! Beeep!  
The heart rate monitor went nuts! What happened next was a bit too fast for Noemi to follow. Jean's nose squirted blood all over the place and several nurses were rushing in to check on him, and one grabbed Noemi's bag and escorted her out.

"Mister Havoc needs to rest now. Please come visit him during hours tomorrow," Nurse Amy told book clerk, handing her, her bag. "It appears to have too much excitement for him today," As she pushed Noemi out the door. 'What on earth?' Noemi gave one last glance to the very red Jean, as she left- Promising to check on him later.

_**end.**_

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End file.
